The adventures of a very confused law student

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Now that my time in law school is coming to a close, I’m starting to realize I made one huge mistake. I’m the kind of student who gets nothing out of lectures and get bored easily. I hate sitting in classes and doing busywork. I’m the worst law student ever, basically. Now, being almost done with school, I can see how my laziness and inability to stay on top of my work has been a huge disservice to myself.

Think about it, you’ve made the conscious decision to go to law school. You’ve decided you want to be a lawyer. Instead of taking classes seriously, reading what you’re assigned, and networking your butt off, you’ve done literally anything else. Not to mention you’re in serious debt from getting a law degree so not getting a decent paying job is not an option. By not staying on top of everything, I cram for exams, stress out WAY too much, and probably don’t do the best I can do in my classes.

Now, good grades and being the perfect student isn’t the most important thing in the world. It’s definitely something to shoot for and is really helpful finding a job, but you have to have a life too. But by not doing your due diligence to law school, you’re completely selling yourself short. You can get that biglaw job if you apply yourself. You can CALI a class if you do your best. Just the fact that your in law school is evidence you are destine for great things. Law school is an investment in yourself and by not doing what needs to get done, you’re wasting that investment.

If there was one thing I could change about my law school career, I would see this opportunity as a chance to better myself, learn everything I can, and use it as a stepping stone to greatness.

Do you ever just hit a point in the semester where your ability to care about anything goes out the window? Yeah, I’m about there right now. Even though I’d much rather lay around watching Netflix or reading for fun, life continues whether I want it to or not. Luckily, I’ve come up with fool proof ways to get through these dark times until I get back to my old ways.

1. Find something to look forward to every single day.

Sometimes, having something to look forward to later in the day makes all the difference. Whether it’s a cookie or coffee or just getting to go lay back in bed, it really helps me get through the day to know I have something to look forward to later. Sure I always look forward to coming home to Patrick and the puppies, but something extra, something I normally don’t get or do makes me excited and want to get through classes and work.

2. Go to bed.

When I get in these moods, the best way for me to beat it is to just go to bed and get a good night’s sleep. Obviously, don’t skip things you have to do to sleep but make sure to go to bed early and get enough good quality sleep. I use my Fitbit to make sure I’m getting enough good quality sleep and if for some reason I’m not, I adjust my sleep schedule.

3. Acknowledge your emotions.

Acknowledging the fact that you don’t care about much right now is important. For me, it helps me clear my head and realize that I’m not just being lazy but that I don’t care and make the changes necessary to fix that. Maybe its an additional counseling appointment or re-evaluating if I’ve taken my medication per doctor’s orders. Maybe its taking a rest and relaxing for a few hours, I mean really relaxing not what I call “relaxing”. Maybe its a chip on my shoulder or some underlying irritation I have with something completely unrelated. Whatever it is, acknowledging how I feel only helps me process the feeling and figure out what I need to do to get back to my life.

4. Remember your goals.

People don’t just go to law school for fun (at least most sane people don’t). Everything you do in life has a purpose and end goal in mind. Focus on the end goal. For me, I know in my heart 100% I want to be a lawyer. When law school absolutely sucks, which it does occasionally, focusing on being a lawyer and the reasons why I want to be a lawyer helps me get through the crappy stuff I have to do to get there.

5. Count your blessings and accomplishments.

I’m constantly astounded by the fact that I’m in law school. Not only in law school, but at a good law school with great friends. There are plenty of things in my life to be thankful for and focusing on those during rough times definitely puts things into perspective. When that doesn’t work, I have to take a few minutes to realize that I’ve accomplished a lot to get to where I am and to be proud of the things I’ve done. Being in law school is tough and getting there can be even tougher. Yet here I am, in law school and doing…..decently. Those are huge things to be proud of and taking a minute to focus on how far you’ve come makes the journey a little bit better.

I’m a busy person. I’m a student, writer, daughter, bridal consultant, fiancee (wife?), I’m planning a wedding, I have a dog…it’s crazy. Somehow, I always manage to get done everything I need to, even if it means I run myself into the ground every once in a while. My goal in life is to get Patrick to wonder at least once a week “how does she do it?”. I’m constantly working on something whether it’s homework, this blog, or training the dog. Some days, I don’t know how I get everything done.

For whatever reason, it’s important to me that Patrick thinks I’m doing a good job at everything I do and wonders how I do it all. It’s not so much being better than he is at something or being able to do more than he does; I don’t know how HE does it sometimes. But for me, having someone wonder how I do everything makes me feel like I’m accomplishing things. It’s an outside source telling me, “hey, you’re doing a good job”. Shallow, maybe. Do I care? Nope.